28.2.08
Stoked
This is a moving post about the Disabled Surfers Association of Australia's "Lets Go Surfing Day."
26.2.08
Conversations with a toddler...continued
We are helping Jolene learn the Ten Commandments during family worship right now. This is a conversation we had with her during one of those times.
Brandon:
"Jolene what is the first commandment?"
Jolene: (with some help)
"You shall have no other gods before me"
Brandon:
"What does this mean?"
Jolene:
"God is number one!"
Brandon:
"Thats right"
Jolene:
"And Adele is one too!"
Brandon:
"Well yes, she is one..."
I think we will keep going over this for a while :-)
Brandon:
"Jolene what is the first commandment?"
Jolene: (with some help)
"You shall have no other gods before me"
Brandon:
"What does this mean?"
Jolene:
"God is number one!"
Brandon:
"Thats right"
Jolene:
"And Adele is one too!"
Brandon:
"Well yes, she is one..."
I think we will keep going over this for a while :-)
22.2.08
Instant AC
Brandon and some friends decided to encourage Simon (guy from church who is going through chemo right now) by doing this....They then went to the hospital for a visit. Brandon said a nurse came in while they were all there to check on Simon and she was confused for a minute. There were now 8 men without hair instead of just one :-)
Before
During
After
Adele was not impressed...
I think she was a bit scared of him the rest of the night and some of the next day. She kept staring at him and frowning. Adele does not approve of change.
Before
During
After
Adele was not impressed...
I think she was a bit scared of him the rest of the night and some of the next day. She kept staring at him and frowning. Adele does not approve of change.
Don't buy HD DVD unless they are for collecting
HD is gone, BlueRay is in. See the article below...
Owners offload their pre-loved HD DVD players
Asher Moses
February 21, 2008 - 12:51PM
Advertisement
The slow death of HD DVD - culminating in this week's decision to switch off life support - has sparked a fire sale on eBay as Australians seek to offload their now obsolete players.
This week Toshiba, the main backer of HD DVD, announced it would cease to develop, manufacture and market HD DVD players, handing victory in the high definition disc format wars to Sony's rival format, Blu-ray.
Retailers including Myer, JB Hi-Fi and Harvey Norman have pulled their HD DVD stock off the shelves as they work out strategies to clear their remaining stock and reposition the players as super-charged regular DVD players.
eBay Australia said listings for HD DVD players on the site spiked since the beginning of this year, as news trickled out of mass movie studio and retailer defections to the Blu-ray camp.
Most weeks in December there was only one player auction, but, by last month, after the Warner Bros studio put the final nail in the HD DVD coffin by ditching the format, listings spiked to four or five a week.
Despite the clear spike, the absolute numbers are small because only a few thousand Blu-ray and HD DVD players (excluding Blu-ray players bundled into the PlayStation 3) have been sold in Australia. People were generally reluctant to buy into either format while the battle between Blu-ray and HD DVD was still raging.
On the US eBay site there are almost 400 HD DVD players for sale at prices under $US100.
But those willing to hold on to their HD DVD players for longer could end up better off financially, as Toshiba's decision to shut down HD DVD production could result in the players becoming scarce collectors' items.
On eBay, people are selling players based on the old Beta format in some cases for more than the present asking price of the newfangled HD DVD players. Beta became obsolete in the 1980s after losing its format war with VHS.
This month, Australians sold second-hand Beta players for $220, $265 and $290. HD DVD players up for auction on the site can be had for as low as $200.
JB Hi-Fi spokesman Scott Browning said the retailer had withdrawn HD DVD products from sale "for a few days" to avoid confusion until the marketplace could adopt a clear position on the future of the format.
"It is likely that it will be introduced again as a high performance DVD player with upscaling capability. Not sure about pricing yet but the entry level player is already well positioned," Browning said.
The cheapest HD DVD player could be bought new for about $299, whereas players based on the rival Blu-ray format have been priced at more than $700.
Toshiba has refused to provide refunds for customers who were burned by the death of the format, saying there was nothing wrong with the players and they still had "inherent value". Its local general manager, Mark Whittard, said customers understood that only one of the two competing formats would probably prevail.
Owners offload their pre-loved HD DVD players
Asher Moses
February 21, 2008 - 12:51PM
Advertisement
The slow death of HD DVD - culminating in this week's decision to switch off life support - has sparked a fire sale on eBay as Australians seek to offload their now obsolete players.
This week Toshiba, the main backer of HD DVD, announced it would cease to develop, manufacture and market HD DVD players, handing victory in the high definition disc format wars to Sony's rival format, Blu-ray.
Retailers including Myer, JB Hi-Fi and Harvey Norman have pulled their HD DVD stock off the shelves as they work out strategies to clear their remaining stock and reposition the players as super-charged regular DVD players.
eBay Australia said listings for HD DVD players on the site spiked since the beginning of this year, as news trickled out of mass movie studio and retailer defections to the Blu-ray camp.
Most weeks in December there was only one player auction, but, by last month, after the Warner Bros studio put the final nail in the HD DVD coffin by ditching the format, listings spiked to four or five a week.
Despite the clear spike, the absolute numbers are small because only a few thousand Blu-ray and HD DVD players (excluding Blu-ray players bundled into the PlayStation 3) have been sold in Australia. People were generally reluctant to buy into either format while the battle between Blu-ray and HD DVD was still raging.
On the US eBay site there are almost 400 HD DVD players for sale at prices under $US100.
But those willing to hold on to their HD DVD players for longer could end up better off financially, as Toshiba's decision to shut down HD DVD production could result in the players becoming scarce collectors' items.
On eBay, people are selling players based on the old Beta format in some cases for more than the present asking price of the newfangled HD DVD players. Beta became obsolete in the 1980s after losing its format war with VHS.
This month, Australians sold second-hand Beta players for $220, $265 and $290. HD DVD players up for auction on the site can be had for as low as $200.
JB Hi-Fi spokesman Scott Browning said the retailer had withdrawn HD DVD products from sale "for a few days" to avoid confusion until the marketplace could adopt a clear position on the future of the format.
"It is likely that it will be introduced again as a high performance DVD player with upscaling capability. Not sure about pricing yet but the entry level player is already well positioned," Browning said.
The cheapest HD DVD player could be bought new for about $299, whereas players based on the rival Blu-ray format have been priced at more than $700.
Toshiba has refused to provide refunds for customers who were burned by the death of the format, saying there was nothing wrong with the players and they still had "inherent value". Its local general manager, Mark Whittard, said customers understood that only one of the two competing formats would probably prevail.
21.2.08
Another kind of drought
This is from the "Age" a Melbourne newspaper
Crisis looms for doctors at the limit
Jill Stark
February 21, 2008
VICTORIA'S doctor shortage is close to crisis, and many GPs are suffering burn-out as figures show a huge jump in patient-doctor ratios.
The Australian Medical Association says that despite a huge increase in the state's population, the number of GPs has barely changed in 10 years.
It has called for urgent action to boost the ranks as Federal Government figures revealed the average number of patients per GP rose from 759 in 1996-07 to 841 in 2006-07. In rural areas the shortage is worse, and there can be more than 1700 patients for every doctor.
Many GPs are so overburdened they are suffering health problems and chronic stress. Some have been forced to close their books to new patients, and one GP even had a stroke during a shift because of the workload.
There are dire predictions that within five years Victoria will face the largest doctor drought the state has seen.
There are 130 vacancies for GPs in Victoria, and by 2012 an estimated 700 more doctors will be needed to keep up with demand in rural areas. Ballarat, Bendigo and East Gippsland are among the worst-hit regions, but shortages are widespread, with patients struggling to get an appointment in metropolitan areas. There is now an increasing reliance on foreign doctors — about 25% of Victoria's doctors were originally trained overseas.
An ageing workforce and lack of financial incentive to enter general practice are among factors blamed. "It's only going to get worse as more doctors retire and others go to more lucrative areas of medicine or get better offers from other states," said Dr Harry Hemley, vice-president of AMA, Victoria.
Dr Mike Moynihan, president of the Rural Doctors Association of Victoria, said the shortage was beyond crisis point. "It's happening everywhere in rural and metropolitan areas," he said. "The stresses are getting so great that doctors are getting physically ill. I know of one GP who got so overworked he suffered three cases of deep vein thrombosis in the space of 12 months."
The chairman of Rural Workforce Agency Victoria, Dr Philip Webster, said new GPs were no longer willing to work 100-hour weeks as previous generations had often done. He said an influx of new medical students due in coming years would not avert the crisis, and improving pay was only part of the solution.
"Working in general practice and in rural communities has been downgraded as a career option," he said. "Our academic institutions and our tertiary teaching hospitals are still pushing the line that if you want to be a clever specialist then you've got to stay in the city, and if you get moved to the country you'll destroy your career options. As long as those attitudes remain then the chances of increased numbers of students wanting to do rural practice are slim."
The Howard government boosted medical student places but it will be years before the trainees are registered and further trained.
A spokesman for Federal Health Minister Nicola Roxon said new doctors on the way would have a "significant impact" and GP super clinics, to be established in areas of shortage.
Crisis looms for doctors at the limit
Jill Stark
February 21, 2008
VICTORIA'S doctor shortage is close to crisis, and many GPs are suffering burn-out as figures show a huge jump in patient-doctor ratios.
The Australian Medical Association says that despite a huge increase in the state's population, the number of GPs has barely changed in 10 years.
It has called for urgent action to boost the ranks as Federal Government figures revealed the average number of patients per GP rose from 759 in 1996-07 to 841 in 2006-07. In rural areas the shortage is worse, and there can be more than 1700 patients for every doctor.
Many GPs are so overburdened they are suffering health problems and chronic stress. Some have been forced to close their books to new patients, and one GP even had a stroke during a shift because of the workload.
There are dire predictions that within five years Victoria will face the largest doctor drought the state has seen.
There are 130 vacancies for GPs in Victoria, and by 2012 an estimated 700 more doctors will be needed to keep up with demand in rural areas. Ballarat, Bendigo and East Gippsland are among the worst-hit regions, but shortages are widespread, with patients struggling to get an appointment in metropolitan areas. There is now an increasing reliance on foreign doctors — about 25% of Victoria's doctors were originally trained overseas.
An ageing workforce and lack of financial incentive to enter general practice are among factors blamed. "It's only going to get worse as more doctors retire and others go to more lucrative areas of medicine or get better offers from other states," said Dr Harry Hemley, vice-president of AMA, Victoria.
Dr Mike Moynihan, president of the Rural Doctors Association of Victoria, said the shortage was beyond crisis point. "It's happening everywhere in rural and metropolitan areas," he said. "The stresses are getting so great that doctors are getting physically ill. I know of one GP who got so overworked he suffered three cases of deep vein thrombosis in the space of 12 months."
The chairman of Rural Workforce Agency Victoria, Dr Philip Webster, said new GPs were no longer willing to work 100-hour weeks as previous generations had often done. He said an influx of new medical students due in coming years would not avert the crisis, and improving pay was only part of the solution.
"Working in general practice and in rural communities has been downgraded as a career option," he said. "Our academic institutions and our tertiary teaching hospitals are still pushing the line that if you want to be a clever specialist then you've got to stay in the city, and if you get moved to the country you'll destroy your career options. As long as those attitudes remain then the chances of increased numbers of students wanting to do rural practice are slim."
The Howard government boosted medical student places but it will be years before the trainees are registered and further trained.
A spokesman for Federal Health Minister Nicola Roxon said new doctors on the way would have a "significant impact" and GP super clinics, to be established in areas of shortage.
4.2.08
Update on our friend, more prayer requests
Several weeks ago I asked for prayer for a friend of ours who has cancer. Here is an update and things to pray for.
The family found out that the cancer has as of now not spread to any other areas in the his (the father is the one who has the cancer) body. That is a great answer to prayer. The doctors have narrowed down the possible cancers to two. One responds well to chemotherapy and the other doesn't. You could pray that the cancer in his shin bone would be one that responds well to cancer.
Pray also for his general health. He has started chemotherapy and it will last many months. They are having to give him several different types to target the two different possible types and any rogue cancer cells that are traveling throughout his body. You know that the chemo is working if your white blood cell count drops to almost nothing. His count has dropped which is good because that means the chemo is doing its job. The downside to all of this is that his immune system (uses white blood cells) is not functioning very well. Pray that God would keep his body free from other infections that wouldn't normally be a problem but now are due to the weakened immune system.
Also, he has to receive two doses of a lethal injection of chemo. This pretty much is how is sounds. He is given the chemo and within 24 hours must receive an injection or he will die. I don't much about it but I'm assuming they give you this huge dose of chemo that is so strong it will kill you it you don't neutralize it within 24 hours. This is obviously something that could cause great anxiety so pray that he and his wife would have peace during those two time periods.
Continue to pray for the family as a whole, their lives have changed quite a bit during this time. Pray that the wife would continue to have strength in Jesus as she takes care of the family.
They continue to trust in God and that has been a huge example to those of us at church. God's ways are good and they are certainly trusting in that.
The family found out that the cancer has as of now not spread to any other areas in the his (the father is the one who has the cancer) body. That is a great answer to prayer. The doctors have narrowed down the possible cancers to two. One responds well to chemotherapy and the other doesn't. You could pray that the cancer in his shin bone would be one that responds well to cancer.
Pray also for his general health. He has started chemotherapy and it will last many months. They are having to give him several different types to target the two different possible types and any rogue cancer cells that are traveling throughout his body. You know that the chemo is working if your white blood cell count drops to almost nothing. His count has dropped which is good because that means the chemo is doing its job. The downside to all of this is that his immune system (uses white blood cells) is not functioning very well. Pray that God would keep his body free from other infections that wouldn't normally be a problem but now are due to the weakened immune system.
Also, he has to receive two doses of a lethal injection of chemo. This pretty much is how is sounds. He is given the chemo and within 24 hours must receive an injection or he will die. I don't much about it but I'm assuming they give you this huge dose of chemo that is so strong it will kill you it you don't neutralize it within 24 hours. This is obviously something that could cause great anxiety so pray that he and his wife would have peace during those two time periods.
Continue to pray for the family as a whole, their lives have changed quite a bit during this time. Pray that the wife would continue to have strength in Jesus as she takes care of the family.
They continue to trust in God and that has been a huge example to those of us at church. God's ways are good and they are certainly trusting in that.
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